V for Voxel (2A03)

I kept waiting for the 'random sounding' notes but they never came.

to piggyback Jredd about seemingly random sounding notes, a good litmus test for that is to back away from your computer for a minute and try to actually SING your melody. if it's awkward or impossible to sing, notes jump erratically from high to low to all over the place or the tempo is just too fast, nine times out of ten, the melody is going to sound awkward to anyone outside of your biased, been-working-on-this-for-hours box. if you don't know HOW to fix your awkwark melody exactly, well, SING! sing what you want and try to copy it down. there's practically little to no buffer between your brain and your voice. and yes, it's not bad at all   there's a lot of elements in here that show you have some legit musical ideas and focus, just gotta practice practice practice

Thanks, great advice.  I really appreciate it

It's not bad man . For being pretty new to the whole thing I'd say you did fine. The DPCM sample channel and other channels are balanced well, the melodies while not anything super complex for the most part work well and I don't hear extreme cases of clashing notes, and I like the DCPM channel samples you chose. The solo at the last there sounds a bit random and it cuts off abruptly so I'd guess there is where you ran out of steam .  When that happens to me usually I'll shift gears into a breakdown of some kind. The trick is finding a way to effectively transition into it.  I noticed that while the drums sounded nice, I didn't hear any tom drum samples. These can be great for drum fills and can help you lead into a new section of a song. If you are worried about length, maybe try a half time break down with emphasis on strong chords using the 0 command for arpeggios. Perhaps you can do a drop where the noise keeps timing still..but the 2 pulses are driving the low end while the triangle channel takes a moment to shine as a lead while the drum samples take a brief rest.  Things like these can really surprise the listener and can flesh out a track without relying on an over use of repetition. In short, the basics are all there. Just work on stronger more cohesive harmonies in some areas, squeeze in a break down or two, and take your time on a more conclusive ending or a solid loop point and you'll be making hits in no time . Keep at it.